Tuesday, July 22, 2008

This picture of Chef Simon Sim doesn't do him justice. He looks too serious! Manage to spend a few hours chatting with this down to earth chef and later on taste his cooking.

Chef Simon is currently the Chef de Cuisine at the Palace of Golden Horses Hotel. heading the kitchen at the hotel's Italian restaurant, Cavallini's.

The bar located opposite the entrance was the first thing that caught my eyes. Well lited with all the colors and the bar tender was tossing and turning the bottles performing his tricks.

I found a spot in the restaurant which reminded me of a chill out place for cigars for the Mafia's. HAHAHA.. looks way too cool.

The dinning areas were really nice too.

Perfect place for a romantic dinner for two.

Which waiting for Chef Simon's dishes, we snacked on bread and dippings that was on the table.

Tuna with black sesame topped with Sea Whealk with Balsamic dressing. I usually prefer my salmon and butter fish when it comes to sashimi, and most of the time give the tuna a pass. But this I really like. The tuna was pan seared, the outer layer is cooked, forcing all the juice and fragrance to be locked in the middle. Superb stuff.

Julienne of Vegetables with Mix Seafood, glazed with Sambuca. 10/10! The touch of Sambuca with the sweetness of vegetables and seafood was perfect! 3 types of sweetness meshed into one. I will always remember this soup whenever I have my flaming Sambuca.

What's a flaming Sambuca? Pour yourself a shot of Sambuca, top it off with a coffee bean or two. Flame the top. Suck the drink dry with a straw and chew on the bean.

Roasted rack of lamb marinated with Harrisa with rosemary garlic juice. I had no idea what Harrisa was until that night. I can have more of those Harrisa anytime. Harrisa is this mild chili thing with lots of spices. It really matches the juicy meat from the rack of lamb.

Panfried fillet of Black Cod and King Tiger Prawn with cream Saffron Gorgonzola Sauce. One this really bad about having good food is that the more good food you eat, the more demanding your taste buds grows. I don't think I will every enjoy blue cheese as much as before after tasting Gorgonzola cheese. Looks the same on the outside but Gorgonzola smells much better and stronger and it doesn't taste bitter if I have too much of it. Gorgonzola with the fish? Awesome!

Thin spaghetti with shrimps, zucchini sauté in extra virgin olive oil. This tasted a more to the spicy side because Chef Simon added some homemade chili flakes. The sauce looked clear but very flavorful.

Grilled Beef Mesallion and Goose Liver with Boleus mushroom black truffle sauce. The foie gras was flamed in wine before it is topped off on the medium rare beef. The truffle sauce added the extra kick to this dish combining the flavor of the beef and foie gras.

Tiramisu. I'm a big dessert fan, but sadly this was not up to my expectations. I think I expected too much. But can't blame me because the starters and mains were excellent!

Pralines. Hmm just like paralines I guess.

After resting the stomach. We sat down and chatted with Chef Simon. One interesting story Chef Simon told me as about the days when he was cooking for folks on a oil rig. It was a 3 week on the job shift and when he was at the rig, he said that he made salted fish by hanging fresh filet trout under the oil rig. The salt in the air in the middle of the sea will be blow dry the fish and slowly salten up the fish. Sounds like a delicious salted fish to me!

Oven was still burning while we chatted. So...

Chef Simon made a pan of Seafood pizza. I was so full so I only manage to have one piece. Should have "ta pau" (take away) the rest ;p

I left Cavallini's with a sastified tastebuds and really full stomach =)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

I woke up with my ears still ringing that Sunday morning. I was standing a few feet away from the speakers at Zouk, while Lap Sap and ShitDisco played their "dirt" and "rubbish" for the folks to enjoy. Music was good, the bass was blastin!

The ear drums belonging to this old lady can't take the strong bass anymore so her ears kept ringging and her listening muffed for the night, the morning, and for the rest of the day.

I needed to get some work done but I couldn't concentrate at home because the ringing sound was just way way too annoying. So I decided to head to my favorite spot to focus.

Sat down at the same quiet corner. Laptop up. Power plugged in. Started typing while waiting for my coffee and cake. But this time is different because I was told that Pick n' Brew had a tea time special.

Any dessert is good, so why not?

The Bread & butter pudding came. I could smell the citrus fruit fragrance when it was placed in front of me. Peach does wonders!

Apple Filo. 10/10! I was really taken away by this. I didn't expect the filo to turn out so good! And who says nothing is free?! Light loose and crispy on the outside, but warm moist apples on the inside. The filo didn't turn soggy too.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Mom was away for the weekend. My sis had her own plans. So it was me and Daddy. When it's the both of us, we always head to Alisan Mamak for Mee Diau. But since it was still early (Mee Diau stall only opens at 8pm), we head to New Town P.J. for duck rice instead.

My Dad loves this place and have always been a loyal customer. I still remember many years ago the coffee shop had to open table and chairs in front of the shops. But a few years later, onnings are fixed at the side of the restaurant, and the flooring renovated to accommodate more table and chairs.

I remember once we came here as often as every weekend!

My dad did the ordering like always.

And I requested for my salted preserved vegetables like always.

There are also other side dishes we could order line eggs, tofu, pork legs and boiled vegetables but we ordered the braised mushrooms instead.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

I had a few box of corn flakes at home which have only about 2 to 3 months of shelf life left. Eat cornflakes everyday? Make cornflakes cookies? I didn't have time to do all that so I gave my colleague a box to experiment with and guess what?

Before....

The results of her experiment was successfully!

She made chili, fried ikan bilis and brown groundnuts and mix them all together with the cornflakes. She let it soak up all the chili and kept the chili cornflakes air tight. A really good home made snack!!!

[Edit Tuesday 15 July 2008]Since I received a few emails asking for the recipe, here goes.

Method:1. Fry groundnuts in oil until golden brown. Set aside2. Fry ikan bilis until golden brown. Set aside.3. Reuse the ikan bilis oil, heat oil and add shallots and garlic.4. Add chili boh and stir until fragrant. Or until the red chili oil starts to rise.5. Add sugar and salt to taste and add a little water to dissolve the sugar. Stir.6. Test the consistency of the chili by dipping a piece of cornflakes in it. The chili should stick to the cornflakes without turning it soggy. Add more water is too thick, or reduce to preferred thickness.7. When ready, turn off the fire and stir in corn flakes. Let to cool.8. Mix groundnuts, ikan bilis and the chili corn flakes in a bottle and store air tight.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Apple is finally back from the down under Land of Oz! w00t! We went *ahem* caving.

The Cave, Jln SS2/61 located at the same row as McDonalds in the SS2 square. (03-7873 9888)

24 hours couple cafe and restaurant..... if they had proper doors, this will really be a "couples cafe".... if you get what I mean ;p

I love the concept of The Cave. A waiting area on the ground floor for waiting and a bar. The first and second floor are "caves", separate rooms which can fit 2 to 8 people depending on the size of the cave. And every cave has their own plugs. Mine had 3 of them ...so laptop friendly. w00t! On the third floor is an open area which can fit up to maybe about 50 pax? The air conditioning was really good. Maybe way too good. I was freezing like mad at my cave but thank goodness the restaurant have shawls for me to borrow.

A bar is also located on the third floor, but too bad The Cave serves only beer and wine. No cocktails =(

Norwegian Smoked Salmon Salad with Cream Cheese Sauce. One nice piece of smoked salmon, and I enjoyed this dish cold.

Wild Mushroom Puree Scented with Honshimeji Mushroom Ragout was recommended by one of the staff. I was expecting something more from this soup. Something seems to be missing.

Linguine Ocean Seafood Mariana was a little disappointing or me. Somehow Marianas' and me don't go well together. I have yet to find a seafood pasta which I enjoy.

The Strawberry Cheese cake saved the day. Smooth and rich, and the best part, not so sweet. Quite good cake.

The whole bill came up to roughly RM75 which I found a little on the pricey side for just moderately yummy food. But that said, I really like the caves and the privacy. I think I can find myself here on the weekends just to hand out with the laptop.

Anyway after dinner, it was Holga time. I think I want to get one of these. Who needs a SLR when Holga is here? Saw a whole bunch of cool pictures that people took with the Holga... really interested in it now.

Apple and his Holga. I had way too much fun tonight! =D Can't wait till Sunday.

Disclaimer

This policy is valid from 26 April 2008

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog does not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does contain content which might present a conflict of interest. This content may not always be identified.

The comments contained on this blog reflect the views of the author and do not in any way represent that of the owner of this blog.